Posts Tagged ‘vaccines’

Recently, there has been an eruption of stories in the media about vaccination, and no wonder. Between this season’s flu strain and the once previously eradicated measles, this has been a bad winter for vaccine-preventable infectious diseases. A number of factors contribute to vaccine effectiveness—most obviously, the rate at which people get vaccinated. However, it may surprise you to know that obesity can also play a role. Read More

When I was an undergraduate at Johns Hopkins University, I had only a dim awareness of the measles outbreak then raging through Baltimore. I was fully vaccinated, spent most of my time on campus, and lived in university housing among mostly white, middle and upper-middle class students, who were also fully vaccinated. Measles, for me, was a remote thing, despite its proximity. It didn’t happen to anyone I knew. Read More

Fears about vaccines have been around for as long as vaccines have. Ben Franklin, like our other founding fathers, knew a thing or two about these fears—before the first real vaccine was even invented.